“When they (Magi from the East) saw the star, they were overjoyed.” (Matt 2:10, NIV2)

When my oldest son left for university, we had to adjust our lifestyle; but we still had one son at home. Besides, my oldest was attending a university only two hours away. We got to see him regularly to our utter delight.

However when my youngest son left home to attend seminary on the other side of our huge country, we felt the emptiness much more sharply. We became empty-nesters overnight, and it was truly brutal. Still, he promised to come back for Christmas.

I missed my son so much that one night I dreamed he came home. I was so excited. I ran and hugged him with tears in my eyes, only to see him evaporate into nothingness. I woke up with a jolt. What a nightmare!

Still I knew Christmas was upcoming, and with this, I knew beyond a doubt that my youngest son would be coming home.

The day he arrived, he hugged me for several minutes, and this time he didn’t evaporate! My son was finally home! My wife and I were in heaven! Our hopes were realized.

Now that Christmas is over, this hope we talked about will not evaporate, unless we prefer to focus on other things beside the Hope of the world. Jesus came to earth to bring us hope and salvation. One day He promised He would be back, to bring us home. “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3b, NIV) We can sure look forward to this! Our Savior and Best Friend will come back for us. That day, our hope will be fulfilled. We can look forward to what awaits us: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4, NIV)

Aren’t you excited about this?

May we live with that hope in our hearts, for with such hope we can face anything!

Rob Chaffart

(To access the entire “Hope on the Horizon” devotional series, please click here.)